BY GENE COLEMAN

The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ – Lance Michaelis and Stephanie Wexler are taking in America’s beauty 1 mile at a time on a four-day jaunt through the back roads of the South.

When The Dart landed on Natchez Trace Parkway on Friday, the couple was commemorating their trip with tourist-like photos at the Natchez Trace sign.

Michaelis and Wexler are far from typical tourists, however. The couple said they have been together 10 years and share a love of bucking the typical vacations of hotel rooms and crowded highways lined with box stores and fast food restaurants.

“That’s exactly what we’re trying to avoid,” Michaelis said. “We drive until we find a destination, and we don’t book anything in advance.”

On a Friday afternoon, they were just setting out on their latest adventure and leaving behind severe storm advisories in their hometown of New Orleans.

Wexler said they take trips often, hitting the road in their Toyota Rav 4 with an ice cooler, comfortable clothes and no set plan of where they will go. As they passed through Natchez, Wexler said they’re considering making a path to Alabama.

“Maybe Muscle Shoals, wherever we end up, as long as I’m back at work on Tuesday,” Wexler said.

Past adventures, the couple said, have tested their nerves driving Hell’s Backbone in Utah, checked off a bucket list traveling Route 66, and met a cowgirl with “hands of steel” in Big Sur, California. By far, they both agree the towering walls of The Narrows at Zion National Park in Utah were the most breathtaking.

“I didn’t want to leave,” Michaelis said. “It was that beautiful.”

By avoiding the standard fare and tourist traps, Wexler said, also get the joy of experiencing restaurants with character. Wexler, a foodie and New Orleans native, said she tasted the best hot dog ever in Amarillo, Texas, at Moe’s Dogs — a restaurant in a converted former gas station.

For Michaelis, a self-proclaimed wanderer, and Wexler, they said their road trips are a way of getting away from websites and photographs and planting their feet amid real life.